>> Riffi wrote:
>> > To answer your questions, I'm in 9th grade Biology. This is sort of an
> > optional extra credit assignment. Although the teacher is will help some
> > what by setting it up in the lab, we have to get all research ourself,
and
> > do all the work ourself. The textbook does not cover this area, and the
> > school library was not very helpful. And yes, my education is the
american
> > type (pennsylvania actually).
> > Thanks for the help
Dear Riffi:
Bacteria grow under all kinds of conditions. I am a hobbyist and
work mostly with invertebrates in pond water. If you take some
mud from a pond and put it in a culture tube and fill it about 3/4
full of pond water and plug it with a wad of cotton and sterilized it
in a pressure cooker for 15 or 20 minutes you will have a simple
culture to grow bacteria and other organisms in pond water.
You can inoculate tubes with mud from a pond a bit of weed,
moss or grass in the pond and look at the different populations
that develop. You can also use dirt and grass from dry land
and see what it has to offer.
While there are bacteria and parasites in pond water that can
cause human health problems it is not very likely to culture them.
You will get a very wide range of organisms that are a lot of fun
to watch as well as bacteria that are rather boring to watch.
The populations of bugs in this enviornment can change very
rapidly. Looking at the bugs while alive can be a lot of fun.
Just use 40 to 200 X so you can chase them around. To see
bacteria you will probably have to fix and stain them unless you
have a darkfield or phase microscope avaliable.
Good luck with the project
Gordon W5RED
G. C. Couger gcouger at couger.com Stillwater, OK
www.couger.com/gcouger
"You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take." - Wayne Gretzky
